HOCKEY: In an extraordinary turn around the Irish men's hockey team finished their four days in Belgium with a 5-1 win over the host nation, writes Johnny Watterson.
Having lost their first match 2-0 to Belgium on Thursday, the Irish side yesterday constructed one of their most promising wins for some time against a team ranked fourth in Europe.
Pembroke's Justin Sherriff - who had been a leading figure in the capture of the Celtic Cup in Cardiff - topped off his weekend with a hat-trick in the rout as Ireland, playing better all round and eliminating the mistakes of the first match, stormed to a 5-0 lead before Belgium hit their solitary goal in injury time.
Glenanne's Stephen Butler, who had previously been out of the squad because of exams, added to Sherriff's three goals from the penalty spot, with Mark Irwin sliding in on a cross from Julian Stevenson for the fifth.
Ireland now travel to Manchester where they meet England next Monday before their European Cup qualifying tournament in UCD next month.
GOLF: Both Gary Murphy and Stephen Browne finished the Danish Open in a flurry of bogeys at Horsens. Despite starting the day in joint fourth place, Murphy carded a closing 77 for 294, six over par, to slip back to equal 19th spot, nine strokes behind the winner, Ed Stedman from Australia.
Murphy began well and came within two feet at the fourth of securing his second hole-in-one of the week. It earned him a birdie-two, which turned out to be his only birdie of the day.
From that point the round became a battle despite the calm conditions. Bogeys at the next three holes and another at the ninth saw him out in 39, while further dropped shots at the 10th and 15th brought the Kilkenny man home in 38.
Browne fared even worse and a closing 79 left him in 58th and last place on 311, 23 over par. He also began well with birdies at the first two holes, but he then ran up four bogeys to turn in 38. A further bogey at the 10th was followed by double-bogey sixes at the 12th and 16th and despite a birdie at the par four 17th, another six at the long 18th meant a back nine of 41.
Stedman, 27-year-old from Sydney, closed with 70 for 285, three under par, and a one-shot victory from England's Lee James, who returned 69.
SAILING: German boat illbruck won the Volvo round-the-world race yesterday, by finishing second in the ninth and final stage from Gothenburg to Kiel.
Skippered by John Kostecki, illbruck finished at 1617 GMT, more than 30 minutes behind stage winner djuice from Denmark. The German boat had previously won four of the nine legs, giving them a slim, though comfortable, lead of five points over closest rival Assa Abloy heading into the final leg.
However, their second-place finish gave them seven points to take them to 61 in total and enough to clinch the overall title.
Sweden's Assa Abloy still had 25 miles to go to the finish line at 1600 GMT.
OLYMPICS: The president of the Olympic co-ordinating committee (CIO) believes the introduction of a world-wide anti-doping code will ensure the Athens 2004 games will be a great success, according to a report published yesterday.
New universal laws will be put in place well in advance of the Athens event to try and stamp out the use of performance-enhancing drugs, a move welcomed by committee chief Denis Oswald.
"It will be an important success and a great gift for the athletes if the efforts of the World Anti-doping Agency are put in place in tandem with the sanctions already there," insisted Oswald in an interview with the monthly Olympic publication Athens 04.
The new guidelines, which will take over from the old system of allowing each country to have their own rules, will be drawn up by next March.
